For
those unaware of her 1994 debut, "Harbinger" the first thing you most
likely heard about Paula Cole is that she used to be a back-up singer
for Peter Gabriel and that the first single from this album, "Where
have all the cowboys gone?" is climbing the charts. Well, both are
true, but they only scratch the surface with regards to "This Fire".
More a transitional piece than the wanderings of "Harbinger" this album
seems to be the story of one woman's search. Yet, it's focus isn't
about an end to that search, but rather simply the search itself. In
this is where this album becomes magical. On songs such as "Me," "Hush,
hush, hush," (featuring Peter Gabriel) and "Nietzsche's eyes," her soul
searching vocals call out and take you along for a ride that explores
both the peaks of pleasure and the depths of melancholy.

This album is both a remarkable example of a quality female
producer/songwriter/vocalist and a recording job that was up to the
task. A bad recording or mixing job can take even the best female
vocalist and reduce her talents to that of demo-tape quality,
thankfully heavy hitters such as Bob Ludwig (who mastered the ethereal
"Carmen") and others get the job done the right way and the recording
is as talented as this artist who seems primed to be considered among
the best new female vocalists today.